Here’s the thing about spinach, it’s so versatile. You’d be amazed at the number of dishes you can make with this humble little leaf. We kind of feel bad for Popeye, shoveling down boring tins of the stuff. Instead, he could have looked at our list of 25 spinach recipes and had a different dish every night of the week! Check out some of our delicious offerings below.
25 Best Spinach Recipe To Make At Home
1. Creamed Spinach
Let’s start simple. This is a side that goes with lots of dishes and is really easy to make. When you begin to cook it, you may worry that you have used too much spinach. Don’t. Spinach wilts down to nothing, so make too much, not too little. A chopped onion, a little splash of milk and cream, and some butter are about all it takes! Dig in and enjoy!
2. Spinach, Radish and Steak Salad
Spinach is so full of vitamins you can practically taste the goodness! We love nothing better than to serve it with slices of rare steak, a few chopped peppery radishes, and a sour cream sauce. This is a great dish to have on a warm day as it is light and really refreshing. To make the dressing add a tablespoon of sour cream, a pinch of salt, a crushed garlic clove, and a little olive oil. Simple and delicious.
3. Spinach Mushroom and Leek Pasta
We love pasta, but it tends to look a little bland. Including a few handfuls of wilted spinach as part of the creamy sauce is a surefire way to add a burst of color and texture. This dish is suitable for vegetarians too, as it is entirely meat-free. We’ve even been known to keep a portion as it is delicious the next day for a quick lunch.
4. Spinach and Ricotta Calzone
For those who aren’t familiar with different pizzas, a calzone is basically a pizza with all of the toppings on the inside instead of on the top. Think of it as an Italian hand pie. This one is super easy to create. Make a pizza base and top with layers of creamy ricotta, a little seasoning, a few chopped tomatoes, and a handful of spinach. Fold it, throw it in the oven… It really is that simple!
5. Spinach and Zucchini Gratin
Ever made a gratin and worried that you’ve got too many sliced vegetables. This thing is like a miracle. The trick is to pile your sliced zucchini and spinach as high as you can. As it bakes, it will reduce down, leaving you with thick creamy layers of juicy vegetables in a rich sauce. It’s the perfect side to serve with grilled meat.
6. Green Machine Smoothie
Breakfast can sometimes be a bit of a chore, but that shouldn’t mean that you miss out on essential vitamins to start your day! This takes about a minute to make and a second to drink. We combine avocado, green apple, a few cucumber slices, and a little splash of honey together with apple juice. We whizz the entire thing in a blender and wonder why it used to be so hard to eat your five a day! You can also make it with water if you are trying to cut down on the sugar!
7. Greek Spinach and Feta Stuffed Parcels
One country that knows how to cook spinach is Greece. It goes so well with feta! And, when it is combined between layers of crisp and flaky pastry, it is the taste to die for! This dish looks a lot posher than it actually is (it is really very cheap). This is great on a summer’s day or for when you want to bake and forget while you sit with your guests.
8. Prosciutto and Fig Spinach Salad
When you’ve got an ingredient as good as spinach, sometimes you are best leaving it in its natural state. This salad is carried by all of its lovely ingredients. Sweet figs, salty and savory prosciutto ham, all served on a crisp and slightly bitter spinach salad. It’s rustic, and we like it.
9. Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells
Cheese and spinach go together so well. Because it reduces down and is super soft, it makes the ideal filling for little pasta shells or ravioli. Our top tip is to allow your cream, cheese, and spinach mix to cool. It will firm up slightly, making it easy to stuff whatever pasta you so choose. Our favorite has to be cannelloni. Those tubes are simply ideal for filling up with a layer of creamy cheese and soft spinach.
10. Mixed Vegetable Lasagne
Ok, so spinach might not be the star of the show in this dish, but it complements the other actors really well. We love a vegetarian lasagna as it is a sneaky way to get the kids to eat up all of their vegetables. We combine layers of eggplant, zucchini, spinach, and a few red onions between sheets of pasta and bechamel sauce before baking for 40 minutes. Simple and tasty.
See Also: Side dishes for lasagna
11. Spinach and Goats Cheese Quiche
Quiche has to be one of our favorite summer spinach recipes. This couldn’t be simpler (especially if you cheat like we do and buy a premade pastry case). Combine a mix of cooked spinach, chopped onions, eggs, and salt and pepper. Tip into the pastry case and then dot the top with small cubes of goat’s cheese. These melt as the egg sets, making your dish taste sublime.
12. Spinach and Mushroom Frittata
This is kind of like our quiche recipe above. But without the pastry! Cook a couple of handfuls of spinach leaves, along with sliced mushrooms in a little butter. Once cooked, add three beaten eggs and leave them under a hot broiler until the eggs rise and turn light and fluffy. Serve immediately! We sometimes keep a slice of this delicious dish back to eat the next day cold for breakfast.
13. Florentine Pizza
Now, we aren’t always a fan of vegetable pizzas, but we will make an exception here. A Florentine pizza is layers of tomato, creamy mozzarella, and spinach finished off with an oozy fried egg slap bang in the center. Make sure to add your egg halfway through the cooking process, or it’ll be too firm!
14. Spinach Breakfast Wrap
This is food that morning was made for. The good news? It’s super healthy, too, oh, and it is a doddle to create. We take a nice floury tortilla and use it to wrap a filling of scrambled eggs, creamy Greek cheese along with some fresh spinach. Just before, sure to check your teeth before you leave the house! The key to making this recipe super special is to use plenty of butter when frying your eggs. Just keep telling yourself it’s healthy.
15. Spinach Salad with Strawberries
Spinach and strawberries? What? Yes indeed. Trust us, it works! This is a simple salad that is perfect as a light bite when the weather is hot. It is supplemented by the addition of a few crunchy pecans. If you feel like it is missing a little meat, don’t worry, our guilty pleasure is sprinkling over a few rashers of crispy bacon cubes! Don’t go easy on the syrup!
16. Chicken and Spinach Casserole
Casseroles are one of our favorite dishes! In our house, it goes something like this. Throw ingredients (cooked chicken, a few handfuls of spinach, some cheese, and cream) into a baking dish. Top with breadcrumbs. Bake. Honestly, it really is that simple. We always make too much, but that’s ok as you can freeze individual portions for a quick mid-week dinner.
17. Scrambled Eggs and Spinach
Scrambled eggs are simple. They are also a bit… Meh. However, this is good news as it allows us to accessorize them! We don’t just use spinach. We also like to add a little heavy cream, a handful of shredded parmesan, and a little garlic too! It keeps the vampires (and our work colleagues) away all day!
18. Honey Mustard Chicken and Spinach
If there’s one thing we can’t do without, it is our crockpot. This recipe is great as you can assemble it in the morning, and when you get home, the house is full of wonderful smells! The best thing is that there are only 5 ingredients. Chicken breast, Dijon, spinach, and butter. Seriously, that’s it. The moisture from the spinach releases into the pan to give you a lovely tasting sauce.
19. Spinach and Cheese Empanadas
Empanadas take a little work, but they are well worth it. Our trick is to make hundreds of these mexican hand pies, literally. We freeze them in batches and pop them into the oven whenever we have been too busy to cook during the day. We combine spinach and Manchego cheese cubes and a little cream and sliced onion before filling pastry circles. Seal the edges with a fork and bake for 25 minutes. Divine.
20. Spinach Balls
This one is a real treat, and we feel slightly guilty that we’ve made something healthy, not so healthy. But hey, it is all about the taste, right? We mix cooked and cooled spinach with shredded zucchini, a spoonful of flour, and a beaten egg. We then drop spoonfuls of this batter into the oil until it turns golden brown and crispy. Forget the waistline and enjoy!
21. Cheese and Spinach Pie
There’s something about spinach that makes it ideal as a pairing with cheese. This is a variation on spinach and feta pie. We appreciate that salty cheese isn’t for everyone, which is why we came up with it. The vegetarian version contains nothing but spinach, eggs, and chunks of oozy cheddar. It also works really well with bacon.
22. Spinach Artichoke Dip
Think of this a little like fondue, but with extra vitamins. We combine three different kinds of cheese (Monterey Jack, cheddar, and cream cheese) along with a large splash of white wine and a handful of spinach. We place it in a baking dish and whack it in the oven until the top turns all golden and crispy. We then serve it immediately with a lump of crusty bread. This one will have your dinner guests fighting over who gets the last dip!
23. Saag
Saag is the Hindi word for spinach, and they have been using it in curries for centuries! This curry has so much spinach that it actually looks green. Chicken Saag is one of the most popular recipes ordered in restaurants. It isn’t a hot curry, so don’t worry about it being too spicy!
24. Chicken Spinach Tortellini Soup
Don’t be fooled. This soup is far from boring. You’ve just got to use the right ingredients… The right ingredients normally being whatever vegetables we have leftover in the fridge! No, joking aside, this dish is made with creamy lentils, juicy beans, and all finished off with a couple of handfuls of fresh spinach. Tortellini and spinach make the perfect combo. It’s hearty, warming, and goes so well with freshly baked bread. It almost makes us wish it was winter already just so we can tuck in.
25. Tuna and Spinach Pasta Bake
Tuna and pasta bake has been a staple mid-week meal in our house for years. But like with most pasta dishes, we need to introduce a bit of interest (and vegetables). We’ve found that the easiest way to do this is by adding a little spinach. Because spinach has a mild taste, it doesn’t overpower the other ingredients in the dish, but it does give a nice texture and look.
Conclusion
The hardest part of deciding what should go on our list of 25 spinach recipes was deciding what should make the cut. There is so much choice, and they are all really tasty. Have another look at the list and tell us which you like the sound of the most. Our favorite is definitely the fried spinach balls. What’s yours?
